VILLUPURAM: In a tragic incident, four persons, including a woman, were charred to death when a private bus they were travelling in collided with a lorry and caught fire. Ten people were injured.
According to police, the private omnibus from Chennai was plying on the Chennai-Tiruchy highway around 1.30 am when the incident allegedly occurred. While P Alexander (59) of Alanganallur village in Madurai district was the driver, M Sakthivel (58) of Parasakthi Nagar, also in Madurai, was the alternative driver.
At Aziz Nagar near Ulundurpet, a cement mixer lorry allegedly took a sudden turn in the highway, resulting in the bus allegedly crashing into it from behind. After this, the bus caught fire and slowly, the fire spread to the lorry too. Many passengers, who were asleep, allegedly escaped by breaking the windows of the bus. After receiving the information, highways and Edaikkal station policemen rushed to the spot, and as the fire couldn’t be contained, fire service personnel were called. They managed to put out the fire after an hour long struggle, but both vehicles were fully burnt.
Police then found that the drivers, Alexander, Sakthivel and C Monisha(25) of Chennai, a bus passenger and Murugan(58) of Seranmadevi in Tirunelveli district, who was in the lorry, were charred to death. After sending the injured persons to Ulundurpet government hospital for treatment, police rescued the bodies and sent them to the same hospital for autopsy. Due to the accident, traffic in the highway was affected for more than an hour. Normal traffic flow resumed only after the damaged vehicles were taken off the road. Police filed a case and began further inquiries.
Passengers blamed the bus driver. They said the bus was plying at a high speed, and reached Ulundurpet from Chennai in just two hours. They further alleged the driver may have found it difficult to bring the bus to a halt after seeing the lorry turn due to overspeeding and low visibility.
Bus overturns
Ramanathapuram: Seven persons were injured when a bus carrying 17 tourists from Polur in Tiruvannamalai overturned at Mandapam, near Rameswaram, on Friday.